Toronto Mayor: I'm Staying, But I'll Ease Up on the Booze

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford talks on his weekly radio show in Toronto yesterday. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Mark Blinch)

(Newser)
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After a rough week that included police saying they have a video that appears to show him smoking crack and every paper in the city calling for his resignation, Toronto's mayor has vowed to "ride the storm out"—but cut back on the booze. "I have made mistakes," Rob Ford said on his weekly radio show yesterday, the Toronto Sun reports. "I sincerely, sincerely apologize," he said, denying that he is a crack addict and urging the city's police chief to release the video so Toronto residents could see it and judge for themselves. "I want to continue doing the job that I was elected to do," he said.

"I just got to maybe slow down on my drinking," said Ford, admitting that it was "pure stupidity" to have turned up drunk at the city's Taste of the Danforth street festival earlier this year. "I shouldn’t have got hammered down at the Danforth," he said. "If you are going to have a couple of drinks, you stay at home and that’s it. You don’t make a public spectacle of yourself." His brother, a city councilman, said Ford would change his ways. "No one’s saying: 'Rob, don’t have a drink ever again,'" he said. "Curb the drinking, not out in public, you can stay in your basement, have a few pops." Amazingly, the mayor's approval rating has gone up by 5 points to 44% since police confirmed they had the alleged crack-smoking video, the CBC reports. (Read more Rob Ford stories.)

Kinda telling that his approval rating went up by 5% after the news came out that they had a video of him smoking crack.

BlackLyingMonkeys

Nov 4, 2013 8:33 AM CST

Ironic how politicians are not held to the same standard as the people they govern. Do as I say not as I do. What happened to JFK – “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”.

DougMasters

Nov 4, 2013 6:45 AM CST

I dunno if this guy is good at his job or not. But if he claims there is no video of him smoking crack, and the police claim there is... then it's hard for me to have an opinion without seeing the video.